Valve’s Mystery Hardware Project Revealed: Wearable Computing

Valve is one of those companies you just can’t help but admire. They are consumer first (almost to a fault), and course they also haven’t sold themselves to EA and Activision. Anytime they set out to do something ambitious, they gather a lot of media attention. Rumors of a Steam hardware console have been circling for several weeks now, but it turns out their hardware ambitions are much more bizarre. Valve developer Michael Abrash admitted the company is looking to hire hardware designers to help advance a prototype in the field of “wearable computing”.

The timing of the admission is somewhat coincidental considering how recently Google took the wraps off of Project Glass. Google’s project aims to bring heads up displays to the masses, while Valve goals? Nobody knows. My Guess? I’m thinking it’s a hat that wires directly into the brain, and stimulates the nerves responsible for micro-transaction impulse control.

In the same blog post Abrash describes how he first came to work at Valve, and his background which involves a stint a Microsoft, Intel, and even ID where he coauthored Quake. During his time at Intel, Abrash worked on the now defunct Intel graphics project known as Larrabee. He also includes details on how to contact him if you’re interested in the hardware position, and encourages anyone who’s got the skills and motivation to shoot him an email.

Anyone else have a guess as to what Valve means by Wearable Computing? Let us know in the comments below.